


Other Times

by Singerdiva01



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1277308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singerdiva01/pseuds/Singerdiva01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of A/R drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hauntings

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: dreams

The night the Cylons returned, he saw her lined up alongside his best friend and his adopted daughter. The occupiers had ordered the settlers to gather for a public assembly. Silent tears streaked the former president's face as she watched his family ripped apart, one by one, by Centurion fire.

When her turn came, she held her head high, smiled reassuringly at her people, and stepped forward into the spray of bullets.

Other nights, she died alone in the grips of delirium. From a fever Cottle could not cure. From drugs they pumped into her fragile body in a fruitless attempt to get information. From being beaten until she plead for merciful death.

The night before he returned for her, a sobbing colonist gently placed her broken, bleeding body into his arms on his own hangar deck.

"Bill, it's alright. Wake up. I'm here."

His eyes spring open. Sweat or tears or some combination blur his vision.

"It's ok, it was just a dream."

He brings his body back under control by focusing on her warmth at his side. He pulls her closer to bury his hot face in her hair.

"No, a nightmare. This, Laura, this is a dream."


	2. Date With An Airlock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt 'recovery' and set shortly after Epiphanies.

She can barely hold her body upright against the couch. She's gone pale in the last fifteen minutes and the lines around her eyes have crawled deeper into their purple pillows.

Bill keeps his silence. She already snapped at him for suggesting an early end to the meeting.

She tries to reach for the water on the table and gasps when the attempt proves both exhausting and painful.

He hands it to her wordlessly, looking down at his report so as not to see the embarrassment in her eyes.

When she hands it back, he can't ignore the tremor wracking her too pale hand.

Wordlessly, he stands and takes the report she's holding. Her questioning look turns to horror when he bends down and scoops her into his arms.

She pounds on his chest in protest all the way to his rack. The blows are harmless but buoy his heart tremendously. Two weeks ago, she couldn't even spare the strength to lift her head.

"This is humiliating, Admiral. I'm the president of the Twelve Colonies."

"And you'll live to airlock me for it if you want. But wait for the morning. Rest now."

"Alright. In the morning."

"Goodnight, Madame President."


	3. Viper Pilot Groupies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: 'Bad Boy Bill'

He couldn't process anything but the smell of her hair and the almost painful desperation of her lips against his.

He was dreaming. He wasn't really making out with the president against the cold metal of his bulkhead.

Cool fingers exploring his biceps brought him back to reality. He realized with sudden clarity that he was no longer wearing his uniform jacket.

He pulled away and gave Laura Roslin an incredulous look.

"The only women I've ever known who could do that were Viper pilot groupies."

She leaned in to nip at his ear.

"Whoever said I wasn't one, Husker?"


	4. Higher Up on the Ladder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: clumsy Laura

The first time was humiliating. Heels were not proper footwear for a Battlestar.

His strong arms encircled her waist. He was surprisingly gentle as he eased her to her feet.

"Madame President, are you alright?"

"Fine, Commander. Sorry. I'm so clumsy sometimes."

The second time she felt herself falling but didn't try to stop the descent.

He smelled so good and his arms were the only warmth she'd felt in a long time.

They laughed about her clumsiness before successfully climbing the ladder to their meeting.

The third time, both knew and neither mentioned that she deliberately missed the rung.


	5. Something in Common

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Bill have something in common no one else in the fleet can understand. (Discussion of Adar/Roslin).

"He was a moron but I'm the last person to judge romantic frak ups."

Laura nodded. She figured Bill would either hit the roof or shrug it off when she told him about Adar. She was glad he'd chosen the more mature option.

"Actually, it's a bit of a relief."

"What? Why?"

Laura waited. Did Bill have an illicit affair he'd kept a secret?

She wondered if she'd be big enough to reciprocate his maturity.

He smiled.

"At least someone else in this fleet knows how maddening and exhilarating it is to be secretly frakking the president."

"Damn right, Admiral."


	6. Comfort on Kobol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura discovers how Bill plans to deal with her cancer.

"Madame President, are you alright?"

Laura stilled, willing her body to stop trembling with a sharp intake of breath. She silently cursed herself for drawing the attention of her tent mate.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Commander."

She held her breath in the silence, hoping her voice sounded sure enough to placate him.

The rustling of fabric followed by heavy footsteps indicated it did not. She jumped when she felt the commander sink down behind her back and settle himself on her blankets. Before she could react, he'd placed his own over both their bodies.

She shifted to face him, unsure she had the strength to reject the layered offering. Her body stiffened when he draped his arm around her, his hand resting casually between her shoulder blades.

"Are you cold or are you in pain, Laura?"

She went quiet. It was the closest they had come to mentioning her cancer.

"I'll take it that probably means both."

His fingers found the base of her neck and began applying gentle pressure in practiced patterns. She shivered when his nails caught her hair, pulling just hard enough to be immensely pleasurable.

"I used to do this for my grandmother. When her arthritis got so bad it hurt to be touched anywhere else this still felt good."

His tone was casual, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to be holding the president close and giving her a neck massage.

This was how he was going to handle it. Laura fought back tears at the sudden realization.

"Tell me about your grandmother, Bill."

She closed her eyes and focused on his rumbling cadence and the soothing feeling of another person's skin touching her own.

That night on Kobol, she slept peacefully for the first time since the world's ended.


	7. Ice Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura gets a little revenge on Bill for throwing her in the brig.

"You never told me why, Bill."

The Commander settled down on his couch next to the president, reminding himself to keep breathing and under no circumstances look anywhere but in her eyes. Had his chest not been aching he would have been convinced he was dreaming.

He was pleasantly surprised when Laura accepted his offer to clean up on Galactica before addressing the fleet. He escorted her to his quarters where she could wait privately for guest accommodations to be made.

He was pleasantly shocked his offer had been misunderstood when she kicked off her borrowed boots as soon as he closed the hatch and padded toward the head, casually enquiring over her shoulder as to where he kept the extra towels.

That was how he found himself inches away from a relaxed redhead lounging on his couch wearing his personal bathrobe. He tried not to imagine what was or was not underneath the fabric.

He was having a hard enough time ignoring the broad expanse of pale presidential leg exposed through the slit and the dainty foot tapping a pattern into his carpet.

"Bill, are you alright? You didn't answer me."

His eyes jerked back to attention.

"Oh, well, one of my crew reminded me that the fleet needed both a mother and a father."

Laura raised her eyebrows.

"They think of us as the parents of the fleet?"

He kicked himself for saying the wrong thing.

"Yeah, I guess so. That bother you?"

Laura hummed thoughtfully as her eyes took on a mischievous glint.

"No, I suppose not. As long as they don't start calling me the Old Lady."

Bill gulped as she slowly uncrossed and then crossed her legs again. Laura held his gaze, daring him to look.

"Um. I don't think anyone could make that mistake, Madame President."

She giggled when he leapt up and announced he needed to take his own shower.

Old Lady's still got it, she thought with a smirk, as she heard the water start running.

An icy shower was nowhere near adequate revenge for throwing her in the brig.

But it was a start.


	8. Honey, You're High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some frakking great drugs.

“Follow the snakes.”

Admiral Adama leaned forward.

“The columns bleed for what we choose.”

The president started to writhe fitfully on the bed while uttering soft, incoherent cries.

Bill jumped up to cradle her, cursing Cottle for taking a break while his miracle patient hallucinated.

“Laura, honey, it’s alright. You’re just dreaming. It’s ok, relax.”

Her body stilled against Bill’s chest and he held her until she’d succumbed again to the morpha’s call.

She was more coherent the next time she woke, identifying the Admiral at her bedside with a delicate sweep of her hand.

“You’re still here?”

He blushed.

“Gets a bit boring leading the fleet. Not much to do.”

Her giggle turned into a pained cough. He jumped up to rub soothing circles across her back.

“Laura, breathe. It’s ok, relax.”

Laura’s brain and coughs cleared moments later and her eyes found his.

“You called me honey.”

Her tone wasn’t accusing or offended. More like an inquisitive statement.

His gaze settled on her wan smile. He would have put the whole fleet in danger just to see it.

He admitted on some level he might have.

“Your dreams seem eventful, Madame President.”

She sank back, trying to decide whether she was disappointed or relieved.

When everything in the room adopted a blue tint and started moving her face reddened with embarrassment.

“Oh. These are some great drugs, Bill.”

She paused to watch the pins on his uniform detach and dance delicate pirouettes near his ear. The glitter in their wake was the cerulean of his eyes.

“Frakking great drugs.”

He chuckled. Madame President was adorable when stoned out of her mind.

“You should rest, Laura.”

When she muttered his name minutes later he was sure she was asleep.

He stood to whisper into her hair.

“I’m here, honey.”


	9. Rock Bottom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every alcoholic knows the moment he hit rock bottom.

He vaguely recognized the sound of Laura vomiting in the head but couldn’t stop his own stream into the trash can long enough to go to her.

Booze.

Diloxan.

Two poisons eating two people alive.

Two people turning to poison in search of life.

Every alcoholic knows the moment he hit rock bottom.

Bill Adama’s was finding the love of his life unconscious and shivering on the floor because he’d been too drunk to keep his promise.

His tears stained her robe as he waited for the medics, holding her close.

He vowed this time would be the last time.


	10. High, Low, and In Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill's thoughts from the supposed last time he's to see her alive to the first time he sees her after he orders Baltar's "cure."

“Don’t come back, Bill.”

Her weak smile took the sting out of the order. He ducked his head but didn’t argue. Neither did she when he said he’d stay until she was asleep. 

He retreated to his office after making the announcement. A day had passed but he could still feel her damp forehead against his lips, the softness of her hair as he stroked the strands back from her face.

He’d just made up his mind when the comm rang. His chest constricted and he had to cling to the desk to keep from falling. He was too late.

*****

 

He’d returned two hours ago, order given, and found himself back where he started: staring at the comm, trembling.

He barely let Cottle finish before he was out the door. He hadn’t expected his friend to be up and around but seeing her lying there, like the last time that was supposed to be _the_ last time, was disconcerting. 

She didn’t stir when he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple. He petted her hair, chuckled as he imagined her reaction if she were to wake. He made himself a promise and headed back to work.

*****

He let her nap on the couch for as long as he could stand. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before he could watch Laura sleep without fear overwhelming him. 

Her watched her eyes flutter as he drew back, his fingers still tangled in her hair. She raised a questioning eyebrow. He kissed that too.

“Bill?”

“Told myself you’d be conscious next time I did that.”

She studied him for just long enough he lost his nerve and moved to stand. She pulled him back and kissed his cheek before whispering in his ear. 

“Come back here, Bill.”


	11. But First, Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura's trying hard to get used to living with Bill. Specifically, not killing him for his damn morning routine. (astreamofstars title prompt at BSG epics: But First, Breakfast.)

“Turn off one or the other or I swear to Gods, Admiral, I’m gonna toss you out the frakking airlock.” 

Threat somewhat coherently issued, Laura slammed her pillow back over her head with a melodramatic moan. She was old enough herself to know she couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks; Bill had been getting up at the Gods damn crack of dawn since he was a nugget. She could even, perhaps, if she summoned all her patience, learn to tolerate just how damn _chipper_ he was when he sprung out of bed before the alarm even went off.

But his habit of turning on the CAP chatter _and_ the early edition of the Caprica Gang at the same frakking time was a step way, way too far. 

From the depths of her fluffy cocoon, Laura heard Bill’s chuckle then Playa’s grating nasal whine, signaling his choice. 

_Reliable sources say President Roslin has ordered the assassination of Gaius Baltar, despite his recent exoneration, and others close to Admiral Adama claim he’s been tasked with both the murder and the cover up._

Laura heard Bill’s heavy footsteps approaching and clenched her eyes shut against the incoming assault of light. When she finally opened her eyes, Bill was standing above her, holding a steaming mug of tea and a plate of something green. 

“Rise and shine, Madame Dictator. We’ve got people to kill, freedoms to trample, but first, breakfast.”


End file.
